Worth raising with Coast?

CBFi

I bought a dress for €195 from Coast in early August for an October wedding. I kept it wrapped up as given to me in tissue paper and only put it on once again before the wedding last Saturday to check sizing etc. the morning of the wedding, the shoulder seam on the left shoulder came apart as I was putting it on.

I did nothing to rip it and it couldn't be abuse/ wear. Should I go back to Coast and complain or forget about it?

Twee.

Do you just want to lodge a complaint or are you seeking redress?

If you wore the dress to the wedding:

It's a bit tricky now that the dress has been worn. Did you take pictures of the damage before wearing? If not, there's no proof that the damage was done when the tags were still on/before wearing.

If you want to simply flag it with them, then go back to the store and let them know. It could have been a manufacturing defect or simply shoddy workmanship. But you could still let a manager know.

The dress has already been worn so I don't think there's grounds for refund or return, but if you had it professionally repaired, they may be in a position to reimburse you for that charge, obviously with dated receipts/proof of service etc.

If you did not wear the dress:

As it's so far out of standard refund period, the decision might lie with the manager. Again, proof of when the damage happened will be difficult. What you are looking to get out of the situation. Refund, giftcard, sincere apologies??

CBFi

I'm not sure, haven't given it a huge amount of thought. It happened the morning of my brothers wedding and I didn't have an alternative or time to repair it properly. My aunt put one stitch in it to hold it.

If I'm passing the shop I'll pop in and mention it to them. I mean €195 is a huge amount of money for a dress with a fault.

Thanks

Twee.

It's definitely worth bringing up, you don't expect the stitching to come apart even after wearing it a few times.

CBFi

Yeah hadn't even worn it really-just tried on twice-once before purchase and once afterwards. I go to a lot of functions so would rewear after repair!

Thanks for advance.

Twee.

I think if you go in calmly and do state that you love the dress and wish to wear it again, you may be in a better position than going in looking for a refund or a new dress. As I mentioned they may (should??!) offer to pay for the cost of repair if both sides agree that the dress faulty. I worked for a major high street retailer and we would offer this to customers when they wanted to keep the item/no replacement available.

Get proof of purchase (CC statement is acceptable) and if it has to be dry cleaned and you've done so, get a receipt of that too to prove that you cleaned it according to the instructions.

Ciara GaGa

Definitely worth a try, you've nothing to lose!

OkayWhatever

I bought a dress in coast last year and when I brought it home I realized a few stains on it. I was a dark plum color, so along with the shop lighting, I never noticed in store.

I bought it on sale though, but it was still €170. I'm a student so It was a lot for me to spend on a dress.

I went back to the store and got accused of wearing it and that's how it got the stains because they don't sell dresses with stains on them. I insisted for a good 10 minutes that I didn't wear it but with no success. I then went to the sale rack and pulled a few more dresses with stains on them or a lot of the beads missing or threads coming out and they still refused to give me a refund.

It was actually shocking so I hope you get more satisfaction than I did!

mhairesa

Hi, last year I bought a dress from coast to wear to a wedding, it has a chiffon overlay. During the day off the wedding I noticed it had torn along a seam, thankfully I had a safety pin in my bag!

I brought it back into the shop afterwards, explained what had happened and they sent the dress back to their alterations person and they repaired it free of charge.

I was delighted 'cause I got a few more wears our of it. Could be worth a try. :-)

CBFi

Thanks everyone. I'll give it a whirl for a repair!

NicsM

OP, I used to work in Coast as a supervisor and they are generally more than happy to offer to repair for free in situations like this.

Your best bet is, if you have the receipt to bring that in with you and calmly explain the situation. As long as you're reasonable about it, they should look after you-like you said €195 isn't a small amount for a dress!

leahyl

Coast has gone way downhill in my opinion in the last few years - I got a beautiful dress there 5 years ago for a wedding and there is no way you'd come across something like it there now.

The quality just seems cheap and the prices are crazy

OkayWhatever

leahyl wrote: »

Coast has gone way downhill in my opinion in the last few years - I got a beautiful dress there 5 years ago for a wedding and there is no way you'd come across something like it there now.

The quality just seems cheap and the prices are crazy

They do good sales in fairness, you could pick up a nice dress for €80 odd!

leahyl

OkayWhatever wrote: »

They do good sales in fairness, you could pick up a nice dress for €80 odd!

Well that's true I guess - I would be very slow to pay full price there. I went in there last week cos I need a dress for a wedding in December and to say the selection wasn't great would be an understatement!